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Age verification lands in Italy

Date:
Tue, 11 Nov 2025 17:23:28 +0000

Description:
Italy is set to enforce mandatory age checks starting November 12 on AGCOM's
listed websites displaying adult-only content.

FULL STORY

In less than 24 hours, Italians will be forced to prove they are at least 18
years old every time they want to access websites hosting adult content. 

Italy joins France, the UK, and several US states in enforcing mandatory age
verification in a bid to shield minors from harmful content online. 

The country's communications authority, AGCOM, says its system has been built
on a "double anonymity" model to protect people's privacy. Yet, age checks
have sparked concerns among privacy-conscious users worldwide and often
provoked a spike in demand for VPN apps.

 VPNs and other circumvention tools have become a quick way to bypass new
rules, which has fulled debates about whether governments should block VPNs
altogether. 

In the UK, the communications regulator, Ofcom, has confirmed to TechRadar
that it's actively monitoring VPN use with an unnamed third-party tool. While
two US States  Wisconsin and Michigan  are considering introducing an
obligation to block VPN traffic. 

There are currently no restrictions on using a VPN to bypass Italy's age
verification law and it seems like some have already started researching the
most secure VPNs in preparation for the age checks. 

However, there is an obligation on the websites to verify users' age and they
are also forbidden from promoting VPNs as a way of bypassing the age checks.

How Italy's age verification rules affect VPN usage 

As per AGCOM's provisions , the only obligation regarding VPNs applies to all
"entities required by law to implement the age verification system." Put
simply, the websites displaying adult-only content. 

The list of websites, which AGCOM is expected to keep adding to, "must not
promote or otherwise refer to any mechanism for circumventing age assurance
systems." 

All this means that Italians won't be prevented from accessing adult websites
when using a VPN  at least for now. 

If you're looking to get a new VPN app, we strongly suggest staying away from
dangerous free VPNs and only downloading apps that have been thoroughly
reviewed and tested. 

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/age-verification-lands-in-i
taly-heres-how-it-affects-vpn-users

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